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Lesser known Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, scored the biggest upset of the tournament when he ousted World Number six and top seeded Thomas Berdych (Czech) 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 in 139 minutes to make the semi-final of the Aircel ATP Chennai Open.
Amongst the four top 20 players, who played their respective rivals for the first time on the ATP tour, only second seeded Janko Tipservic progressed to the semi-finals, while third seed Marin Cilic (Croatia) and Stanislas Wawrinka (Sui-ranked 17) besides Berdych were eliminated.
In a match that witnessed equal share of the points won or lost, Agut, ranked 80, was able to beat Berdych sheerly on his consistence while Berdych made lot of unforced errors, importantly on crucial points.
With the rivals holding on to their service games 5-5, Agut made it 6-5 and then readied himself to find ways to break Berdych in the 12th game. Here Berdych could save just two set points before yielding the initiative.
In the second, the Spaniard played flawless tennis equipped with solid forehand drives and volleys. The games again went on serve and Augt broke Berdych in the eighth to signal the biggest upset of the tournament.
In the ninth, Berdych had his chances to break back but wilted under pressure. In fact the first three points scored by Agut were when Berdych hit his forehands long and then the Spaniard had an open court to hit a forehand winner for the game and the match.
In the semi-finals, Janko Tipersic, the favourite for the title take on Aljaz Benedene of Slovakia, while Augt plays fifth seed Benoit Paire of France.